Carpenter&#39;s layout wheel



Oct. 19, 1948. v F. WHEELER 2,451,595

cmrmw'mn's LAYOUT WHEEL Filed Feb. 15, 1947 IN VEN TOR.

/-7. 0 Ya WHEEL 5e Fatentecl Oct. 19 194 UNITED S TATE S1 OFF I CE CARPENTERS muons- HEEL Floyd Wheeler, Hunting-ton Beach, Calif,

' Application. February 15, 1947, Serial No. 728,837

4 Claims; 7 11 My invention relates to a layout device designed to expedite the work of marking lengths of material to indicate points or areas at: which other pieces of material are to beconnected.

The invention will be; hereinafter specifically described with ref-erence'toj'a layout device'for carpentry work, particularly in the building trade, though it is to be understood that the device of the invention is. not necessarily restricted to such use.

In building the usual Woodenframed; house, regardless of: thesmaterial with which the frame is to be covered, it is necessary to, place in position horizontal framing members, or sills, on the topof the foundation walls and to mark, these accurately to indicate the points at which vertical: members or studding are to be attached, and

also to correspondinglymark the plates or horizontal members to which the upper ends of the studding .is. secured.

The spacing of the vertical members, sizes of lumber used for variousconstructional or framing. members and the various arrangements of them are all standardized and set out in the building codes of various. authorities so that layout devices used by carpenters may be readily arranged to handle all standard constructional arrangements of framing members.

With present methods and layout tools, a considerable part of the time spent in erecting the wooden frame of a building is taken upin the careful marking of sill and other longitudinally extending members, since such marking must be accurately done.

It. is an object of my invention to provide a.

layout tool by the use of which structural or other membersrequiring to be'marked at uniform distances may be accurately marked in a fraction of the time at present required.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a marking device of the kind described, which is of simple and robust construction, inexpensive to produce and easy to operate, and satisfactory in operation.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a carpenter's marking device which may be utilized, with a minimum loss of time in making adjustments, to eifect the greater portion of the layout marking necessary in erecting wooden framed dwellings or similar structures.

Another object of the invention is to provide a carpenters layout wheel provided with stationary, but adjustable, marking means.

Still further features and objects of the invention will hereinafter appear from the following specification, takenv inconjunction-with the accompanying drawings which illustrate a prey ferredform of the invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective View of the layout tool the position it would have in mar-king orlaying out a sill member and the plate or upper floormember, which Will be put in place above. the sill;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary section through the center of the drum or wheel of the device, drawn to a larger scale;

Fig. 3 isa cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2-;and-

Fig. 4 isa perspective view drawn to a larger scale, and with part broken away, to show an ink-containing receptacle fitted inthe drum or wheel.

In thedrawing, the numeral l0 indicates a cylindrical member, or drum, closed at one end by a circular plate l2 of greater diameter than cylinder tll, thus.- providinga radially extending flange [4; effective to act as a guide for the tool. A- centrally located boss [6 is provided on plate lZ-and isdrilledto provide. a bearingfor the cylinder, or drum, [0 on a handle l8 adapted to be graspedin the hand or the user. A bolt 20, fitting snugv in boss I6 serves as a, spindle which passes: through a bushing mounted in a bore in the handle 18 and is secured by a castellated nutv 24.. Preferably, washers 26, 28 are used to reduce friction between plate I2 and handle. l8 and the handle and nut 24.

While the cylinder Ill andend plate l2 may be f -,or.me.d-- and. secured together in any suitable manner, such as by casting; the parts as a unit,

the cylinder- [0 is shown in the drawing as formed by rolling a sheet of metal into cylindricalform and brazing or otherwise securing the plate I to cylinder [0.

When the device is to be used in carpentry, for which it is particularly intended, I provide the outer periphery of the cylindrical part with a plurality of projecting points 30 designed to catch in the surface of the lumber as the tool is run thereover, to prevent any slipping of the cylinder along the lumber and thus ensure accurate spacing of the marks made by the tool.

The points 30 may be provided, as shown, by short screws with sharp points threaded into holes in the cylindrical member [0 so that their points project outwardly, the screws being arranged so that the points do not prevent proper contact of the marking elements, later described, with the surface of the lumber. Any suitable means may be provided to adjust the points 30 to compensate for wear of the points or in the form shown worn screWs may be readily removed and replaced by new ones.

A tank 32 is fitted into the interior of the cylindrical member, or drum, In. As shown in Fig. 4, the tank may be shaped to fit snugly against a portion of the inner periphery of the member ID, and may be detachably held therein, for instance, by lugs 34 projecting from the inner periphery of member I!) and secured thereto in any suitable manner,

The inward wall of the tank is preferably flat and is cut out as indicated at 36V to provide a filling opening which may be sealed by a cover 38 secured by screws 40 engaging in holes struck inwardly through the tank wall and tapped to receive the screws. A sealing gasket 42 is preferably positioned between the cover 38 and the wall of the tank around the filling opening.

Slots are cut in the curved face of the tank aligning with corresponding slots in the wall of the cylindrical member and wide wick elements 46 are arranged to project through the slots and extend sufficiently beyond the surface of the drum 7 to properly mark the surface of the lumber. The

wicks may be held in proper position by means of screws 48 mounted in struck-in portions 50 of the tank wall, the ends of the screws engaging in the wicks 46.

The interior of the tank may be filled with cotton aste or similar material soaked with a suitably thick ink of other marking fluid.

The tank may be securely held in position by means of a screw 52 threaded through the end plate I2 and the wall of the tank, or by any other suitable means.

While the generally used distance between studs is 16 inches, and the material for the studs is lengths of 2 inches by 4 inches, it is pointed out that other spacings and thickness of stud material may be dealtwith by providing wheels or drums of appropriate circumference, the wicks being spaced apart the correct distance, corresponding to the thickness of studding to be used and the peripheral distance between the wicks corresponding to the distance apart of the studs.

The correct size of wheel for the design used in the building is mounted on the handle by removing the nut 24, pulling bolt 20 from the bearing in the handle and replacing the drums with one of the desired size, the operation taking only a few minutes, or of course a number of the complete layout devices may be maintained for use, since only a limited range of standard spacings and materials is used in housing construction.

In using the device for marking shaped lumber to be used as sills and plates, corresponding lengths of sill and plate members are carefully lined up with the surfaces to be marked upward, the tool is then placed at one end so that the outer edge of the wick toward the length of lumber is on one edge of the two lengths and the guiding flange [4 brought against the longitudinal edge of the lumber, and the device then rolled along the lumber, accurate rolling of the drum on the lumber being insured by the engagement of the screw points 3|! therein, the wicks 46 making a pair of marks at each revolution accurately indicating the location at which the upper and lower ends of the studding is to be secured.

I claim:

1. A device for marking lengths of lumber, including: a handle; a drum of predetermined circumference; a wall closing one side of said drum and projecting radially beyond the perimeter of said drum to form a guide flange, the other side of said drum being open; points projecting from the surface of the drum to engage with the surface of the lumber to prevent slippage between the surfaces of the drum and lumber; a pair of slots formed through the circular wall of the drum perpendicularly to the edges of the drum; mark- L. ing elements of absorbent material positioned in said slots; and a tank holding marking fluid secured in said drum and having slots in the wall thereof for passage of the inner portions of said marking elements of absorbent material.

2. A device for marking lengths of lumber, as set forth in claim 1, and in addition including: means effective to hold the marking means in adjusted position.

3. A device, as set forth in claim 1, and in addition, including: adjustable threaded members mounted in the wall of said tank adjacent the slots therein and engaging against the marking members, whereby said members may be held in adjusted position.

4. A device, as set forth in claim 1, and in addition including means effective to detachably secure said tank in the drum.

FLOYD WHEELER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent;

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 477,603 Pabl June 21, 1892 587,253 Adler July 27, 1897 808,439 Deidrick Dec. 26, 1905 1,309,306 Schulstad July 8, 1919 1,782,877 Madden Nov. 25, 1930 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 424,505 Great Britain Feb. 22, 1935 

